Smartphone giants slug it out in high end segment mkt

NEW DELHI: Smartphone heavyweights Samsung Electronics, Apple and Google are set to engage in a battle royale over the next few months to capture a larger share of premium phone users, with their latest models breathing new life into the high-end segment. In the fray are South Korea's Samsung, which expanded its lead over Apple in January-August, followed at a distance by Taiwan's HTC. Sony, No. 3 in the segment last year, has dropped off the radar, data from Counterpoint Technology Market Research showed. Following up on the launch of its flagship Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in March, Samsung introduced Galaxy S6 edge+ in August and Galaxy Note 5 in September. Google Tuesday unveiled two devices - LG Nexus 5X and Huawei Nexus 6P - both premium smartphones, hitting the market just days before the iPhone 6s and iPhone6s Plus go on sale on Friday. While their prices are different -- with Google's latest devices the lowest --iPhones have aspirational quotient and Samsung has a headstart and models that have been critically acclaimed, said analysts. "The launches will ignite excitement in the segment," said Vishal Tripathi, research director at Gartner. "Premium smartphone is a critical part of phone makers' portfolio, including those that lead the market, because consumer demand to upgrade to the next new model is growing, although slowly, in India." The premium phone entries are timed perfectly with the festive season, a quarter in which handset makers typically notch up their highest sales. India is among the fastest-growing smartphone markets in the world and is poised to outpace the US as the secondlargest market, after China, by 2017. According to International Data Corporation, 26.5 million smartphones were shipped to India in the second quarter of 2015, up 44% from 18.4 million in the same period in 2014. Growth in the country's smartphone market comes mainly from the affordable segment - priced between Rs 8,000 and Rs 15,000 — and the entry-level segment, which brings in the new smartphone users. Big-ticket introductions are set to reinvigorate the segment. Premium smartphone shipments fell 26% to 1.77 million units in 2014 from a year earlier and climbed back up to 1.97 million as of August this year, according to CyberMedia Research. "This past year, it grew at about 41-42%, so the market is huge and getting bigger," said David Shapiro, Global Director of Chrome and Android Marketing at Google. "We have a stronger highend portfolio till date with seven smartphones, including Galaxy S and Note series. This is our best step forward this year, which will be visible in our market dominance," said Asim Warsi, Samsung India's vice-president for marketing (mobile and IT). Apple didn't respond to emails seeking comment. Google and Apple's new phones will be followed by the launch of Sony's Xperia Z5 on October 21 and by Microsoft's Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. All these phones will be in premium segment. The premium segment accounted for 3% of smartphone sales by volume in the first eight months of this year, up from 2% a year earlier. The number of premium devices sold this year till August more than doubled from a year ago. In terms of value, the segment's share widened to 23% of the overall smartphone market this year from 15% in January-August 2014. "We estimate the new launches will expand the volume of the flagship segment," said Tarun Pathak, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research. Samsung and Apple have been taking turns at leading the market in the face of challengers such as China's Xiaomi, which offer comparable devices at lower prices. Samsung's S5 introduced in April last year was not well received by consumers as there was nothing substantial to differentiate it from the S4. Apple led the segment with a 46% volume share in the January to August 2014 period, followed by Samsung with 34% and Sony with 12%. However, the tables turned in 2015. Samsung expanded its share to 52% in January to August 2015 on the back of devices launched since February. Apple lost some shine as its share dropped to 40% while HTC managed to claw up to 4%. Analysts foresee little change in the market in the short to medium term.

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KOLKATA: Samsung Electronics Company, the world's biggest seller of smartphones, is planning its biggest blitzkrieg of launches in India in the next quarter in a bid to fend off local and Chinese rivals in the mid-segment category. The South Korean company will introduce 10 smartphones in the July-September quarter in theRs 9,000 to Rs 18,000 segment, where it is embroiled in a fierce battle for market share with Micromax Informatics, Lenovo-Motorola and Xiaomi. According to some research companies, the rivalry led to a drop in Samsung's market share in the high-stakes mid-segment in 2014.

NEW DELHI | KOLKATA: Apple and Samsung Electronics are set to battle it out in the upcoming festive season in India. Cupertino-based Apple, which will look to win over customers with the iPhone 7 and iPhone7 Plus introduced on Wednesday, has earmarked Rs 100 crore for marketing, branding and advertising to take on market leader Samsung, which plans to spend about Rs 125 crore in the days leading up to Diwali.

NEW DELHI: Mobile handset makers Huawei and LG are aiming to sell at least 1 lakh devices of Google's newest Nexus smartphones — 6P and 5X — in the three months to December as they see huge demand for premiumend handsets in the ongoing festive season. The Nexus 6P is made by Huawei, while 5X has been manufactured by LG.

NEW DELHI: Samsung Electronics could lose up to 25% of its sales in India — and its long-standing No. 1 ranking —in the premium smartphone segment in the current quarter after scrapping the production and sale of the troubled Galaxy Note 7 globally. The world’s largest phone maker “stopped sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7” and “consequently decided to stop production” of the device, citing consumer safety concerns, according to a statement from Samsung on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: Samsung Electronics could lose up to 25% of its sales in India — and its long-standing No. 1 ranking —in the premium smartphone segment in the current quarter after scrapping the production and sale of the troubled Galaxy Note 7 globally. The world’s largest phone maker “stopped sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7” and “consequently decided to stop production” of the device, citing consumer safety concerns, according to a statement from Samsung on Tuesday.

BENGALURU/KOLKATA: Amazon is closing the gap with Flipkart in online smartphone sales, with the US giant gaining sizeable market share in the first half of this year and dislodging Snapdeal from second position, according to a research firm. Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, ended the April-June quarter with a cof 32%, data from Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Technology Market Research showed. That was a sharp gain from 21.5% at the end of December.

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: Samsung will further delay the launch of its latest flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone in India, giving its biggest competitor Apple a free run in the first few weeks of the festive season, three senior industry executives said. The decision to postpone the India launch of the Note 7, which has been plagued with overheating battery problems, was taken by the company on Wednesday. Samsung wants to first ensure that the 2.5 million devices already sold globally are recalled, said the executives, who requested anonymity.

NEW DELHI: India’s smartphone market is set to see record shipments in the third quarter as handset makers build substantial inventory and put in place aggressive sales and marketing plans for Diwali and the festive season to tap into renewed demand. Sales had slowed in the first two quarters due to the after effects of demonetisation and implementation of the goods and services tax (GST). Apple and market leader Samsung — with their respective iPhone 8 and Galaxy Note 8 launches on September 12 — will revive their rivalry for the premium segment in the festive season.

MUMBAI/SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is regaining smartphone share in India with a revamped line-up packed with special features including a safety mode for motorcyclists, as rival Apple Inc readies a renewed push into the world's fastest-growing market. Long the leader in price-conscious India, the South Korean giant had been losing ground to local rivals such as Micromax and Lava, as well as Chinese brands.

There's a storm coming this festive season and it could be a prolonged one. With three overseas smartphone companies entering the country every month, domestic vendors are getting ready for the long haul. Sitting in his first floor office in Gurgaon, Shubhajit Sen, Chief Marketing Officer at Micromax Informatics, is gearing up for the storm. "Right now, it's extremely cluttered... This hyper competition will not move into a stability phase unlike in previous times...